Faith?

The Psalmist compares the songs of the stream to the clapping of our hands in worship to our God Most High.   Psalm 98:8  (AMPC) 8  Let the rivers  clap their hands ; together let the hills sing for joy. Isaiah compares the branches of the trees raised with the rustling of their leaves to us raising our hands as  we clap our hands in worship to the Lord God Almighty. Isaiah 55:12 (AMPC) 12  For you shall go out [from the spiritual exile caused by sin and evil into the homeland] with joy and be led forth [by your Leader, the Lord Himself, and His word] with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall  clap their hands . Isaiah compares the sounds of the hills with the birds happily signing and the branches of the trees with leaves rustling to our worship of our God who sees. Psalm 47:1 (AMPC) O  clap your ...

There are a lot of strange doctrines out there bouncing throughout the Church because the teachers are cherry picking Scriptures out of context.  Some Prosperity teachers say that it is God's will for all believers to be rich, and they use Paul'sown words to support their position.  After all, didn't Paul say in 2 Cor. 9:8 (NIV)  "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."   Therefore, they teach that it is God's will is for us to be well off.  Yes, it does appear from that one verse that we're suppose to have plenty of stuff to take care of ourselves and others. On the other hand, Paul also said in Romans 8:35 (NIV)  "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"   In this passage, Paul taught that we as Christians might sometimes go h...

The reason so many Christians struggle to share their faith is the same reason they struggle to initiate any contact with strangers. Most Christians don’t know how to initiate and create productive relationships with other people.  Most churches drop the ball when they just assume that people know how to do this, but they don’t.  Churches need train believers how to create healthy relationships... 1). To really love other people (Leviticus 19:18). 2). To be kind and respectful to others (Ephesians 4:32). 3). To carefully choose their words (Colossians 4:6). 4). To be listener first, speaker second (James 1:19) 5). To practice love with different viewpoints (Galatians 5:22-23). 6). To be guided by the Holy Spirit in relationships (Galatians 5:16). If people are not practicing these skills with each other, how are they influencing the world?

Why don’t we ask new believers with a wide sphere of influence to immediately host a party to introduce their lost friends to Christ?   Then, a pastor, a small group facilitator, and the new believer could give a 5 to 10 minute presentation about a new life in Christ. Then, we could even use these parties to launch new Small Groups from those who come to Christ through them. This sphere of influence strategy really worked for Matthew, Cornelius, and a Samaritan lady. Why don’t we use it? After Matthew came to Christ, he immediately invited everyone within his sphere of influence to come and meet Jesus. Apparently, it was a big hit because this small group gathering made the Pharisees furious.  Matthew 9:9-13 (MSG)  "Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along with me." Matthew stood up and followed him. 10-11Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close fo...

In the late 1970s, I attended an interdenominational Bible Study called “the Metro Bible Study” in Metro Atlanta, which began as a Small Group in “Dad” Charles Ellis’ basement. It was taught by Dan Dehaan, and eventually outgrew Dad Ellis’ basement by moving to the Griffin Middle School.  When I first started attending, it had grown to 300 teenagers who meet ever Tuesday night and featured Contemporary Christian Music played by “The Pat Terry Group”.  As the Metro Bible Study continued rapid growth, they eventually moved to the First Baptist Church of Smyrna, Georgia where it peaked around 1200 attendees.  In the summer of 1982, Dan Dehaan died in a plane crash and teacher John Riley took over. Under John Riley, the Bible Study grew to about 1,500 after eventually moving to Mt. Paran Church of God. When I was first invited to the “Metro Bible Study”, I didn’t go to hear Dan Dehaan teach because I didn’t know who he was.  What I went to hear...

In one of my previous jobs, I was required by my employer to attend a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. (See  www.dalecarnegie.com  for more information).   The class had about 40 to 50 attendees, and the instructor began the course by teaching us how to remember each other’s name.  After each person got up, they would tell us his or her name, where they worked, and what things they like to do. As each person spoke, we were supposed to remember each person, by associating their names by what they told us.   The first assignment of the class was to get up and say each person’s name from memory.  We had to remember from memory EVERYONE’S NAME!  As each attendee was called upon to stand up and say everyone’s name, it served as a review for everyone else in the class.  Amazingly, every attendee was about to quote everyone else’s name from memory including me.  To this day when I see someone from the cla...